Full Time with children ?

New Member

My wife and I really want to give full time a try. I am in my early fifties and have 12 year old twin boys. We plan on home schooling while we travel. The boy's also think this is a great idea. Our plans are to start out for a year and see how things go. We have a 1998 36 foot National Tropical with a slide. I would like to get some opinions from full timers on how they think this life style will be for our children. I would like for my children to see and enjoy this contry we live in . Any feedback on this subject will be a great help.

Senior Member

Hi Jerry,
Getting information from others is a great start but, in the end only you and your family can answer whats best. wife and I love camping and will be fulltimers but, we found out it was not for our 88 and 102 year old Moms so, our plans are on hold. I say go for it. Should be a great experience for the kids and parents. Just be sure and doccument and set aside the time each day for the schooling. :approve:

Senior Member

Although home schooling can be excellant for education, as would travelling the country, I'm wondering what an itinerate lifestyle would do for the kids social and physical development.

As long as there is plenty of physical activity, and limited stretches of inactivity, the latter concern is probably not going to present a problem. Make sure you take bikes with you, and try to stay in places with basketball/tennis courts/gyms/rowing ponds, etc. I don't know if not having long term friendships would be 'bad' for them or not. Perhaps travelling during the school year and staying at 'home' during the summer might overcome any problems. Or 1 year on/1 year off. Or travel a circuit, so you spend signficant amounts of time in some of the same places each year, preferably near some kids who are or could be friends. Also, having some way to access the internet much of the time while travelling would be good not only for educational projects, but keeping in touch with friends/relatives.

What it comes down to in the end, is, not what you want, but what is best for the kids.

New Member

this thread caught my eye as we plan to do the same - full-timers/homeschooling

Our son, Donovan, will be finish with elementary school in five years. We would like to homeschool him during the middle school years (grades 6-7-8) using a Christian curriculum and a really unconventional means of studying each state (northern states in warm weather and southern states in cold weather) by spending roughly a month in each one. By the time we get done with all 50 states we figure he will be through his middle school years. Then taking the info we have gathered from each state we will find a spot to settle down during the four years he will be in high school so that he will have credits and extra-curricular activities to prepare him for college.

We figure on learning a lot ourselves as we study each state - putting together individual scrapbooks with facts, figures, landmarks, history, famous people/inventors, state flower, bird, flag, seal etc. We would visit each state capital, various museums and landmarks - all the places where things started, like the Wright brothers, auto manufacturing etc Science would involve detailed, hands-on studies of water life, animal life, minerals, biology, plants, trees etc which we figure state park nature trail areas to be helpful with.

We're still working out the bugs ... but it's a dream of ours ... we have five years to pray, plan and prepare.

btw - he's our youngest - we will have three children to visit/stay with and family/friends scattered throughout the USA to help provide landing spots.

Senior Member

Sounds like he will be an expert in U.S. geography and history. Hawaii could be a bit of a challange though . I hope you plan not to neglect the rest of the world geography and history, much less math, science, literature, sociology, etc, and physical conditioning.

New Member

plan to include it all - math will be fun - he enjoys math - he loves to swim, and lessons are easy to come by at two week intervals - sociology will be easy with church connections, lots of youth activities there - science I mentioned - lots of really neat science museums out there - literature is a bonus, we read to him everyday and as a result he is able to read two years ahead - plan to include a foreign language or two and as for world history, that's what makes us a great country, with immigration we have access to local cultural/international events - everything he learned in elementary school will be reenforced and built upon. I was a teacher's aide for ten years, so I have some experience in education - he makes it easy cause he loves to learn - was majorly disappointed to find out school lets out for summer and asked if I would homeschool him during the summer - of course I said "yes!"

New Member

Yes, indeed! Definitely need to keep up those computer skills for him to succeed in high school - our soon to be Junior is always using the net for research and word processing programs for term papers - as it is our youngest is already a pro on the computer and he enjoys educational programs like math/reading blaster

as for Hawaii :laugh: that one we will have to fly to ... unless we can find a way to ferry the home across the ocean

New Member

we currently homeschool our children (unschooling). we are in control of their learning 100%. (No e-schooling) we unschool but unschooling is not for everyone. We meet with a certified teacher once a year for an assesment. We keep a portfolio/summary and all their work. One must be very organized. I hear TX is a very friendly homeschool state and one does not even have to report there. We are thinking about making TX our domicile.

we hope to start Rving full time in 2011. Doing research now to prepare.

As for a social life we belong to a homeschool group. I know that would change a tad as we travel but my kids are very social so making friends and being social won't be an issue. One homeschooler said "sometimes we socialize so much there's no time for the education, lol."

as someone who homeschools I can tell you socialization is not an issue at least for us.

Senior Member

Though I'm not full time and my kids are all old and moved off to college now but had to chime in. There are a couple folks I'm aquainted with have retired from the military and are doing and have done exactly what you are talking about and I see no problem with it. One (retired female LtCol) has and active blog on the GOOD Sam site and was a subject of a story in their monthly mag. She also posts a bunch on another forum.

Concerning home schooling great way to bond with kids and heck what a great geography lesson. Plenty of web sites out there for home schooling help and ideas.

I have one really close friend who retired from the military and bought a 45ft sailboat and he and his wife and two boys and 1 girl are sailing around the world with no time schedule. Home school to boot. His oldest son will be starting his second year at West Point so there was no disadvantage that I can see. This son was a high school sophmore when there trip began.

Medical coverage is the only thing my buddy on the sailboat is really concerned about.

Senior Member

Ask yourself if this is for you or the kids. No support base of young with ideas 50 does not = 12. No base of life long fiends their age. No organized sports, no piano or ??? lessons. They will be in an old age environment most of the year.